Vital Engineering has profitably completed the two largest gratings, handrail and stair tread supply contracts in Africa yet.
The said contracts were for the supply of 70km of hand railing and over 8 000 stair treads to Eskom’s Medupi and Kusile power station projects, as well as 100 000 square metres of grating panels per power station.
Dodds Pringle, MD Vital Engineering, says that among the companies products, the projects used GRP or FRP fibreglass gratings and accessories, mild or stainless steel and aluminum gratings, stair treads and expanded metals. Vital’s copyrighted sealed unit tubular stanchions were also supplied.
The foundation product range comprises ball-type angle and solid forged reinforcement, which were supplied with solid hand rails and bends to construct complete walkways.
Vital Engineering worked proactively with the principal contractor, MHPSA (Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Africa), to meet and surpass specified quality and safety goals.
This, Pringle said, ensures consistency in service levels and deliverables. They also took it upon themselves to adopt preventive safety and quality practices instead of leaving the main contractor to cater for the same.
Pringle further cautions buyers and clients to look closely at the products they specify not only to avoid cases of sub-standard performance parameters, lower steel and manufacturing quality as well as the failure to carry out test procedures but also failures.
In terms of performance, grid flooring and hand railings are highly reliant on the supplier’s integrity to ensure high standards of safety are maintained.
This is why those responsible for procuring or specifying walk-way systems need to be mindful of these critically important factors.
The long-term consequences of a fatal accident are always severe, including strained client relationships, delayed project completion and severe penalties. However, these are vastly outweighed by any loss of life.
